SHNEAKO - December 03, 2025


Why I Refused a $20,000,000 Gambling Deal

WHY 2025 WAS THE BEST YEAR OF MY LIFE Begging New Yorkers for Validation

Episode Stats


Length

8 minutes

Words per minute

171.91

Word count

1,412

Sentence count

90

People

Also mentioned:
Roberto Mantocchello Roberto Monticelli Prego James Gandolfini Kendrick Lamar Tony Soprano

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged

Toxicity

10

sentences flagged

Hate speech

1

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

On this episode of the podcast, we talk to the Mayor of the Meatpacking District, Roberto Mantocchell. He is a social activist and filmmaker, and has been mayor of the district for 30 years. He has been fighting against development in his district for decades, and is one of the most influential people in the area. We talk about how he fought for the neighborhood, and why he refused a $20 million gambling deal.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 This is why we refuse the $20 million gambling deal.
00:00:15.880 I like your gloves.
00:00:18.320 Do you know who I am?
00:00:20.440 No, what's your name?
00:00:21.600 Google something.
00:00:23.520 Can you mind if I sit?
00:00:26.320 Google the Mayor.
00:00:28.680 meatpacking.
00:00:30.680 Oh! That's me.
00:00:32.680 I like this outfit.
00:00:34.680 Very good. How long have you been the mayor
00:00:36.680 of the meatpacking district? 30 years.
00:00:38.680 30 years.
00:00:40.680 Yeah.
00:00:42.680 How come you never ran for mayor like Curtis Sliwa?
00:00:44.680 Because I was in the
00:00:46.680 90s. I was the one that
00:00:48.680 was selected by the community board
00:00:50.680 to fight against
00:00:52.680 the idea of leveling
00:00:54.680 the meatpacking and put up
00:00:56.680 80 stories, you know, buildings.
00:00:59.180 Putting the skyscrapers like near Central Park.
00:01:01.960 Yeah, it was gonna be Battery Park City number two
00:01:05.400 with 14 super skyscrapers.
00:01:12.700 So you protected, you saved the meatpacking district.
00:01:15.320 It was great to meet you, I appreciate it.
00:01:16.460 I love the meatpacking district.
00:01:17.440 What's your name?
00:01:19.780 Roberto Monticelli, it's all there.
00:01:21.440 Roberto Monticelli.
00:01:23.440 Now, I'm actually a filmmaker.
00:01:27.900 Oh, here's you with Kendrick Lamar.
00:01:29.820 Yeah, I have a medium thing with everybody.
00:01:32.860 How long have you been directing films?
00:01:35.000 Oh my God, I think for about 30 years.
00:01:37.820 30 years.
00:01:38.600 Yeah, I mean, but I took time to fight for the neighborhood.
00:01:42.860 I took time to go to Gaza and bring humanitarian aid.
00:01:46.900 Time to stop the development with ICE.
00:01:52.320 You know, I mean, I do all those things when I'm not filming.
00:01:56.960 So you're a social activist and a director?
00:01:59.080 Yeah, absolutely.
00:02:00.200 What is your secret to success?
00:02:02.240 I feel like this is my purpose in life.
00:02:06.080 And this is my purpose in life, I have to do it.
00:02:09.260 I have no choice.
00:02:10.660 Let's say the city offered you $10 million to level Meatpacking District.
00:02:15.760 Would you accept the money?
00:02:17.000 No.
00:02:17.560 Why not?
00:02:18.800 Because, I mean, the money doesn't buy me.
00:02:21.100 What buys you if money doesn't buy you?
00:02:24.100 I would say who I am.
00:02:28.100 I mean, I have no other way of being.
00:02:31.100 When they started doing the whole thing about the neighborhood,
00:02:35.100 they offered me $50,000 to developers for me to get out of the way.
00:02:41.100 That's the way they put it.
00:02:42.100 And you refused the money?
00:02:43.100 I refused the money.
00:02:44.100 Was that a difficult decision?
00:02:45.100 Yeah, pretty much.
00:02:46.100 It was?
00:02:47.100 Yeah.
00:02:48.100 I mean, having a lot of money doesn't do it for me.
00:02:53.100 But keeping who I am does it for me.
00:02:57.100 Roberto, thank you so much.
00:02:58.100 You're right, my friend.
00:02:59.100 I appreciate it.
00:03:00.100 It's great to meet you, buddy.
00:03:01.100 One of those days, we're going to be wiping the lens with our shirt all day long.
00:03:05.100 Not quite snow yet, but it's a rainy day in New York City.
00:03:18.100 so that's like a gambling deal they're offering me a lot of money don't take it if you have to
00:03:27.480 sell your soul yeah true isn't taking it selling your soul i think a little bit depends what the
00:03:32.900 contract says right your soul your principles for 20 million dollars from who like steak or
00:03:38.860 what uh rain bet any of these they're all the same are you gonna be able to still post on youtube
00:03:43.080 like you can do what you want but you're still just to activate like it's not like you have to
00:03:46.760 get you know take back shots on an island i i don't think you should i mean i understand why
00:03:53.000 people do it and i'm friends a lot of these people do you know steiny yeah i did a podcast
00:03:57.020 with steiny the day charlie kirk got assassinated and we did the podcast and it was sad and then
00:04:00.900 i watched it and it's like all right guys join prize fix link below it's like the dude just died
00:04:05.580 they're like hey here's benjamin netanyahu and here's slamming on prize fix it's like it's a
00:04:11.940 weird contrast if you don't have to take it don't take it that that would be my advice would you
00:04:16.260 Would you take it if you offered 20 mil?
00:04:17.840 I probably would, but the reason why I would do it is because my goal in life is to make
00:04:26.000 a video game company.
00:04:27.000 You would reinvest it into something good.
00:04:28.920 Absolutely. 0.97
00:04:29.920 Question, so why don't you start doing porn and then reinvest the porn money into your 0.97
00:04:33.580 gaming company? 0.99
00:04:34.580 That is selling your soul.
00:04:36.080 What's the difference between porn and gambling?
00:04:37.580 That's the problem.
00:04:38.580 The loss versus greed.
00:04:39.580 Yeah.
00:04:40.580 Those are both seven.
00:04:41.580 Yes.
00:04:42.580 The best picture. I like your gloves.
00:04:49.740 Do you know who I am?
00:04:52.940 Roberto Mantocchello,
00:04:55.400 mayor of the meatpacking district.
00:04:57.180 Do you mind, can I take down your phone number?
00:04:59.840 Yeah. You want my card?
00:05:02.000 Sure. He said he wanted my card, right?
00:05:04.880 This is the first time I asked for it. Usually people give me their card, I throw it in the trash.
00:05:08.400 I want to keep this. Thank you so much, Roberto.
00:05:10.820 I used to hang around with Tony Soprano.
00:05:21.820 James Gandolfini.
00:05:23.820 That's my favorite show.
00:05:24.820 I love The Sopranos.
00:05:25.820 He used to live in the village.
00:05:27.820 In West Village or East Village?
00:05:28.820 In the meatpacking.
00:05:30.820 873 Greenwich.
00:05:31.820 He and me were the only straight guy around.
00:05:36.820 There's a lot of gay people here.
00:05:37.820 A lot of meatpacking in the meatpacking.
00:05:39.820 exactly the two of us used to hang around together we used to go to the clubs and we had a table that
00:05:45.740 used to be called the table for the straight people it was him it was just you it was the
00:05:52.540 two of us only he was a good man james gandolfini yeah he was the opposite of tony so far we did a
00:05:59.420 film together you did here this is the movie you have a lot of paperwork right here it just keeps
00:06:04.780 No, because I just gave an interview to New York one.
00:06:11.980 But one film about the meatpacker, my God, it would be a big hit.
00:06:17.160 Because the meatpacking district is known all over the world now.
00:06:20.740 So I should make that movie?
00:06:22.060 Yeah.
00:06:22.820 Now that I have your phone number, I will send you this video, 0.99
00:06:25.140 and you can let me know if I'm full of shit or if it's good. 1.00
00:06:28.340 Okay, I don't think you're full of shit. 1.00
00:06:29.980 Otherwise, I won't be talking to you. 0.99
00:06:31.440 I appreciate that.
00:06:32.560 Prego.
00:06:32.880 You know what I mean?
00:06:33.780 Prego.
00:06:34.780 how you doing you know this is the mayor of the meatpacking district right here so you know they
00:06:39.160 tried to level the meatpacking district and build a bunch of skyscrapers here yeah and he said no
00:06:43.800 they offered him fifty thousand dollars and he said i'm not going to take your money
00:06:46.920 i don't need your money thank you again i'll be in touch i'm snico my name my name is snico 0.99
00:06:52.360 yeah he waved over he's wearing the black and red gloves what the fuck and the conversation 0.91
00:07:00.260 this happens all the time when we film i'll approach the day with an idea and the city 0.99
00:07:06.180 brings it to me i say i'm gonna make a video called is it okay to be fat and the largest
00:07:09.880 person i've ever seen in my life sits down a woman with a beard and says that this ain't fat 0.92
00:07:14.200 this peach is a cream i do a video about not taking a gambling deal and sticking true to
00:07:18.500 your principles and i meet the guy who protected the meat packing district i'll show a picture
00:07:23.480 right here these tall billionaire buildings right south of central park they go all the way into
00:07:28.980 clouds the tallest buildings probably in this country and nobody lives there they're inactive
00:07:33.460 billionaires keep it so that once a year they can visit and then do an epstein party on the top
00:07:38.180 floor other than that nobody's there and they blocked a view it's an ugly disgusting mess but
00:07:43.780 here because of roberto you have a neighborhood that has not been leveled that has not been changed
00:07:49.300 that looks relatively similar to the way it did in the 90s and keeps the soul and spirit of why
00:07:54.180 this city's great if more people took the gambling deal if more people sold out yeah they'd make a
00:07:58.820 a lot of money maybe not a lot of people will criticize them but we would lose the essence of
00:08:03.860 what makes this place great do you want a bunch of goyslop architecture
00:08:08.820 or do you want something that inspires the soul